


The City is Ours Tonight

by suzuyaaaaa



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Admiration, Alternate Universe, Ayato is an artist, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hinami takes pictures, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Light Angst, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Venezia | Venice, gondola rides, i love them sm, my beautiful bbys, this is self-service tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 23:52:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7382584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzuyaaaaa/pseuds/suzuyaaaaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinami and Ayato get lost in Venice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The City is Ours Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> so i just came back from italy and we went on a gondala ride ?? it was one of the best experiences ever so yes ,, here it is in ayahina form (honestly just wanted to write fluff theres been so much angst lately). please enjoy!!

"Ayato, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I got us lost, I'm-"

Ayato gently takes Hinami's hands in his own and plants a light kiss to her forehead. Hinami's shoulders shake and shiver in the cold night breeze, and her eyes are glazed with tears. Ayato knows he looks pissed; he has a tendency to flame up in the face when he's emotional, cheeks turning crimson in anger. However, he's actually just  _very_ frustrated, for Hinami and him are lost in the middle of Venice. Hinami tried to find their way back to the hotel, but all the streets looked the same in the Italian moonlight, and everything blended together into a maze of brick and stone.

Guilt is eating Hinami alive because she's just ruined their perfect evening. They walked down the foreign paths together hand-in-hand, stayed at a wonderful cafe for a few hours, and it brought Hinami so much joy that her boyfriend was so beautifully happy. The past is the past, though, and now, Venice seems threatening to the two Japanese lovers. There's barely a lick of Italian or English in their bodies.

The short girl continues to let out choked apologies, and Ayato sighs before pulling her petite frame into his long arms to completely envelop her. She breathes in his lavender shampoo and cheap cologne while burying her face in his navy hair. "Don't be sorry. Please don't cry, Hina-chan," Ayato whispers into her ear, using the nickname he gave her when they first started dating. That only makes Hinami want to weep even more. Ayato is so cold to most people, but he always,  _always_ treats Hinami with endless warmth and care. He isn't being cold to her still, and she doesn't understand it. She doesn't deserve this love and comfort when she ruined the night, and it was  _all her fault_ and hers only. "You know I'm not mad, right?" Ayato mutters. He presses a kiss to her cheek, and she sniffles.

"You're terrible at lying," Hinami counters. Ayato tchs and frowns when she pulls away. His left hand and her right and intertwined, his arm over hers and her thumb over his.

Ayato huffs, and Hinami looks down at her feet, stepping on the tiles and never the cracks. "I'm telling the truth, damn Fueguchi." Hinami weakly laughs, and it sounds like she's dying because she's so breathless. Ayato releases her hand and slings his arm over her shoulders. The lanterns illuminating the street they're on paint the cobblestones gold and bronze, and the canal of water turns green.

There aren't a lot of other people around, which is unusual to see. There aren't any pigeons wandering the streets, either. Ayato recalls earlier that day when Hinami and him were eating gelato, and she scolded him for kicking his boot at a couple of the creatures. She wasn't really upset at the time judging at the laughter interrupting her sentences, the small smile that bloomed across her face, and the faint blush dusted across her cheeks.

Ayato looks down at Hinami to see how upset she is now, and his frown deepens. She's taken out the map again, wiping her eyes and sniffling horribly. Ayato groans and starts leading them to the edge of the sidewalk so they can walk along the water. He scrunches his nose up at the putrid smell, and the sound of the liquid lapping onto the sides of the pavement makes his skin crawl. He  _really_ hates Venice. The people here are rude, and he can barely communicate with anyone.  _Everyone knows fucking English, but_ never _Japanese. Fucking peachy_ , Ayato thinks bitterly. He hears Hinami start whispering possible routes they can go, but he feels like his head is submerged in water. Fatigue begins to catch up on him, and he just wants to sit and relax and comfort his girlfriend.

Hinami huffs when she realizes Ayato isn't listening, and silence surrounds them as she starts to re-analyze the map. She regrets looking back at that damned paper because she's confused herself  _again_. Hot tears prick behind her eyes, and she sighs wearily. They never should've gone to Italy as an anniversary vacation. They could've just gone somewhere nice in Japan which would've probably been much more enjoyable and  _much_ less expensive. How are they going to get back to their place? They might have to stay out on the smelly streets all night. Hinami's eyes water even more at the thought, and she just wants to  _go home_ -

"Do you wanna ride a gondola?"

Hinami is pulled out of her thoughts by Ayato's sudden question. "Do I want to  _what_?" she snaps. She loves the blue-haired boy, she really does, but sometimes, he just won't take anything seriously. "We need to get  _home_ , Ayato. We can't ride a gondola, especially in the middle of the night!" Her chest rises up and down, up and down, up and down over and over underneath her pale blue sweater. She's so  _finished_.

Ayato resists the urge to make a snippy comeback because he knows that will just make the situation worse. "Look, I just think we need to take a breather. If we have clearer heads,  _maybe_ we can figure out a way back to the damn hotel." Ayato's definitely not used to being the one to calm someone else down because he's always the one to lose his temper. His words of reason feel extremely foreign on his tongue. Hinami groans and turns her head away sharply, coffee-colored hair swaying with the motion. Ayato cracks his knuckles and rolls his head back. The color of the sky matches his hair, and he can't tell apart the bangs in his eyes from the night. "You don't have to be bitchy about it." His words come out too harshly, and his eyes widen in panic. He did  _not_ means to say that.

Hinami stiffens and shrinks slightly under the weight of her despair. Venice is only a place of unhappiness in that moment, and she hates it with every fiber of her being. She brushes her bangs out of her eyes and turns back around to face Ayato, but she's caught by surprise when he strides over to her in just a few steps, and she tilts up her head to meet his dark eyes. He's always been much too tall, and he has to bend his knees while she has to stand on her toes when they kiss.

"Can I do this for you? Please?" he asks hesitantly. He licks his plushy lips and bends his knees so their faces are nearly level. "You won't regret it, I promise." His large hands are on her cheeks now, and she sighs before closing her eyes.

When she opens them again, Ayato already knows her answer. Hinami nods almost imperceptibly, and she stands on her toes to lightly kiss his dry lips with her soft pink ones. It's like a flower is being pressed against his skin momentarily before falling away into nothingness. Ayato grins and pinches one of Hinami's cheeks before brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Hinami pouts and pushes his hand away. She interlocks their fingers again and steals his dark violet scarf to wrap it around her own neck. She nuzzles her face into the purple wool and leans her head on Ayato's shoulder, hair fanning across the fabric of his black tank and the skin over his muscles. He starts walking them down the water some more in search for service.

* * *

 

"What the hell do you mean it's a hundred euros?!" Ayato cries out in Japanese, startling the gondolier who stares at him in terror and confusion. Hinami's hand is raised to tap Ayato on the shoulder to tell them they should just leave, but Ayato pulls out his wallet and slaps the money into the gondolier's hand before she can do so.

"A-Ayato, that's too expensive-"  
"Damn it, Hina-chan, it's romantic as fuck so it doesn't matter."

Hinami's brows crunch together in worry, but she knows Ayato will refuse to change his mind. The gondolier pockets the money hesitantly and gulps when Ayato grabs HInami's hand. She steps forward and brushes his bangs out of his cool eyes. "You should cut your hair soon," HInami comments nonchalantly. Meaningless conversation always helps to calm him down. Ayato smirks and shakes his head to bring his bangs back into his eyes. Hinami tries to frown as convincingly as possible, but she can't stop the corners of her mouth from turning up. Truthfully, she would never let Ayato cut his hair. He looks so handsome that way.

Hinami steps forward to take the gondolier's hand, stuttering out "Thank you" in her best English, but the simple phrase is choppy and unnatural in her mouth. She stumbles on the boat and takes a seat on the cushy two-seater. Ayato follows soon after, trying to avoid as much physical contact with the gondolier as possible, and Hinami giggles when Ayato clumsily plops down next to her. She decides to drape her bare legs over his lean ones clothed in black denim. The gondolier huffs and climbs behind the couple to his position. Hinami catches the man glaring holes into the back of Ayato's skull as he straightens out his striped shirt. Ayato pulls Hinami's legs closer to his chest to take her attention away from the gondolier, and she sighs before leaning forward to brush his long bangs back. 

Ayato leans back into his seat as the gondola pulls out of its "parking zone" or whatever the hell it is, and they start down the canal at a very slow pace. He closes his eyes and feels Hinami move closer to him before tilting his head forward. He opens his eyes and scoffs at the hairband around her wrist. "Are you actually doing this?" Hinami smiles as best as she can with her tongue sticking out over her top lip as she pulls his hair back into a short, stubby ponytail. "Fuck, you actually did it," Ayato breathes out. He reaches up to undo the hairstyle, but Hinami seizes his hands in her small ones. They look and feel like porcelain, and Ayato is momentarily dazed until Hinami kisses his cheek sweetly. The canal widens out before them, but then, the gondola turns right into a narrower path, and the world is quiet.

Hinami wishes she brought her camera with her so she could freeze this moment and capture how lovely the town looks at night. The pink and red and white and blue buildings have paint peeling off the walls, and the moon highlights the flaws with a beautiful glow. Blue moonlight can't penetrate the golden, artificial rays from inside the buildings, and the yellow light shines brightly into the darkness outside. The water they're riding on gleams dark blue-green until they pass under a bridge where the water turns black like a crow's wing before turning back to that iridescent turquoise. Hinami has always been a romantic girl, and the Venice she is currently seeing is the epitome of hopes and quiet admiration and breathing openly and deeply and freedom itself.

Hinami feels Ayato's thumbs stroke the backs of her hands absentmindedly, and she glances at her lover out of the corner of her eye. The moonlight hits Ayato's sculpted face beautifully, she notices. She's always told him that he looks like a sculpture, and she likes to take pictures of him recreating poses of statues in the museums. He has very high cheekbones for a boy and large, crystalline eyes of cool sapphire and amethyst; she can't decide what his irises look like more. He looks radiant and content, beyond compare to any breathtaking site she's ever seen, and her heart floods with love. He is always peaceful with Hinami, or at least he is in comparison to how he acts around others. She strives to make him as happy as he makes her. He is supportive of her photography and her occasional writings, and he is much too good for her, she decides. She craves her camera even more to capture her sculpture in the midst of Venice in all its glory. It would've been her best picture in her entire photography career so far.

Hinami blushes when Ayato's eyes meet hers, and she chooses to snuggle into his willowy frame so that he can't look her in the face. "Like what you see, Hina-chan?" he teases softly. Hinami hides behind her hair, and Ayato kisses her head while she takes her legs off his thighs. The gondolier rows them under another bridge, and momentarily, they are encapsulated in near-darkness. Hinami peeks up at Ayato through her brown locks and moves to rest in the crook of his neck, his arm over her shoulders.

Her hair smells like cappuccinos, Ayato notes as the sloshing of water against the gondola rings in his ears. Her hair looks like a cappuccino, too, in a way. Her roots are a light brown, almost blonde, and her hair slowly turns to a shimmering amber-bronze as it reaches the tips. The boat begins to emerge from under the bridge, and Ayato and Hinami instinctively move closer to one another. He watches the moonlight wash over his lover's worn boots, then over her legs, then over her white skirt, then over her periwinkle sweater, then up to her face.

Hinami moves out of Ayato's embrace to throw her cappuccino hair up into a sloppy bun. She's never been very much a perfectionist about her appearance or really anything. The light glimmers in her topaz eyes, and Ayato sighs softly in awe. They are two orbs of melted gold and sunlight, and they're so expressive. They light up and darken instantaneously, pupils growing and shrinking rapidly, and they're always moving and observing the world. She still hasn't lost all the baby fat in her face, so she still appears so youthful. She is the happiness in sadness, the light in the dark.

Ayato curses himself under his breath for not bringing his sketchbook and watercolors. He'll have to paint this from memory as he usually does. Hinami loves his art but never wants to be in it even though he's  _always_ being put into her snapshots. She is apart of Venice right now, and he can't pass up the opportunity to recreate tonight through his art. In fact, she  _is_ Venice because she blends in so well with the surroundings and the atmosphere. Venice in the moment is calm and imperfectly perfect and shy and wonderful.

They reach for each others' hands at the same time, his arm over hers, her thumb over his. The gondola ride is spent in silence for a couple of moments. Then, the gondolier begins to sing. "Are you fucking serious?" Ayato mutters in disbelief, and Hinami's lips curl up into a blinding smile. Ayato looks over at his girlfriend and rolls his eyes, but the Italian lyrics and quiet melody slow down his pulse. He feels as if he is sinking into Venice as well wholeheartedly with no regrets.

Hinami's eyes meet Ayato's, and she beams when she sees the happiness blanketing his face like earlier today when they had a long coffee break in the cafe. He is a work of art, too kind and great to be hers.

Ayato falls deeper into Venice when he and Hinami scoot together so they're shoulder to shoulder. Her head falls onto his shoulder, and his head is on top of hers. They watch the front of the gondola intently, listening to a song in a language they never intend to learn.

* * *

 

"Thank you!" Hinami calls over her shoulder as Ayato climbs off the gondola. He lets out a grunt in the direction of the gondolier before grabbing Hinami's hand and dragging her around a corner out of the man's sight. She lets out a deep sigh and falls into Ayato who catches her swiftly. He stares down at her for a moment and wraps his arms around her waist. Hinami grins and reaches down into her small handbag, pulling out the map which crinkles loudly in the night. She presses the map against Ayato's chest, and he drops his chin down to glance at the paper. Hinami looks around at their surroundings, noting the restaurant names before looking back at the map. She's able to pinpoint one of the restaurants on it, and she keeps her index fingers on the spot to mark where they are.

Ayato buries his face into her floppy bun and hums contently. "Can you think clearly now?"

He feels Hinami nod her head under him "It helped a lot, yes, the gondola." Ayato hums again in response and runs a finger up her spine while she locates their hotel. "Okay, I think we've got a plan!" she says excitedly, looking up at Ayato with bright, joyful eyes. Ayato beams down at Hinami in response, and the moon casts a halo around his head.

He pulls her close, and the map is pressed between their chests, and he bends his knees ever so slightly. Hinami stands on her toes and puts her hands on the sides of his face. Their hot breath fans over each others' faces, and Ayato tilts his head just a little bit to his right to meet Hinami's lips. He tastes like smooth, black coffee, and she tastes like light, creamy espresso. They are submerged in Venice and its peeling paint and its rancid water and its ridiculous tongue and its endless sky. It is unbearably wonderful.

Hinami pulls away first and kisses Ayato's soft lips again right after. He bites on her bottom lip and smiles against her when she lightly flicks his cheek. Hinami lowers her feet, and he stands up completely, arms still locked on her tiny waist, hands still resting on his high cheekbones. "Let's go home," he whispers in her ear quickly. Hinami nods and holds the map in front of her again. Ayato moves to her side and squishes his cheek into her bun, and she begins to explain the route back to the hotel.

When he understands, they walk hand in hand down the path Hinami directs them through. They occasionally squeeze each others' hands which turns into contests of who can squeeze the hardest, which Ayato always wins. Hinami doesn't hate Venice anymore, not at all, but Ayato only feels impartial to it rather than thoroughly disliking it. Tonight, it was theirs, a watery town of no regrets and boats and moonlight and love.

**Author's Note:**

> ayahina sets me on f i r e its so cute!!! anyways, thank you so much for reading and im sorry for any typos!! esp in this one, i kept messing up a lot :') i hope u hv a great day/afternoon/night!
> 
> [hmu on my main tumblr](http://lilacgrowth.tumblr.com/) [or my tg one!](http://suzuyaaaaa.tumblr.com/)


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